I haven’t done one of these Austin roundup thingamabobs or whatchamacallits or doohickeys in quite a while. Especially since my forced sabbatical from bicycling (more on that later). But enough info has come into my email box or across my awareness lately that thought I’d give it a shot. If you’re not in Austin, I bet you will still find it interesting, relatable, or amusing, so please read on. I mean, you’re already here, may as well stick around a bit to see what ol’ A Dudey has to say.

Bike Story Night happened again. They also did a short ride, like only a few miles, I think. Not sure the point of that, especially on a hot Austin Friday night, but more power to them. But I went one time and it is a neat idea.

Get a bunch of bike friendly people in a room and have a handful of them tell stories about their biking. Maybe a cross the country or something fun or weird or life-changing just here in town. Seems like it could be done with much less production and effort, but what do I know?

If you’re in town and want to catch their next one, or sometimes they’re in other cities, check them out at https://bikestorynight.org.

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The geniuses who run the Parking Department at the University of Texas quietly decided it would be a cool idea to come up with a really dumb and shitty policy and not tell anybody about it over the summer when most students are gone. Signs popped up saying that people would have to dismount in certain zones where people are used to getting around by scooter, ebike, and regular bike. And if you don’t dismount, you will be fined right then and there, creating a funding source and job security.

There is legitimate concern for pedestrians, given that university walkways are lousy with students and others walking. But instead of setting up bike lanes and putting up speed limit signs and things of that nature, they went with the let’s punish everybody approach. Fortunately, there was an outcry, so they have back pedaled, so to speak, by allowing regular bicycles.

But that’s still limits people who are using micro mobility devices to get across a large campus in a short period of time carrying books in tbe heat, cold, or rain. And surely there are plenty of students, staff, and faculty who have mobility limitations or disabilities. etc.

What they need to do (in this dude’s considered opinion) is to follow their own 2013 bicycle plan and install bike lanes, especially on San Jacinto. That is the road where Anthony John Diaz was killed in 2019 by a bus driver whacked out on three different prescription drugs. Of course, that goes right by our mecca, tabernacle, and shrine to the untouchable holy religion that is American football– the hugely profitable UT Longhorn football stadium. So we can’t have anything like a ghost bike reminding people of a dead person, cut down on the already very limited parking, or turn off big donors, right?

Instead, they will just push people off campus, which is much riskier in terms of crashes. Not to mention it will make tons of people late for class. Thanks go to the right-wing governor. He kowtows to president number 47, and UT leadership (that guvnah appoints, because it’s a state school) has been kowtowing to him for quite some time.

Ironic, because Governor Asshat drives a wheelchair. (He was an avid runner until a tree fell on him years ago, but he repeatedly refuses to stand up for disabled people. Edgy humor intended, based in reality; deal with it.) So, it was not a surprise they were trying to sneak in new rule without even consulting  the shareholders. Hopefully smarter heads will prevail.

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Speaking of taking a city street and calling it yours because your UT, the City of Austin recently heard testimony from plenty of active transportation advocates like those at Safe Street Austin. It’s been a decade since the last bond election for many of the bike lanes that are still being installed in patchwork fashion here and there. While much appreciated, we have a long way to go to get to Vision Zero and a truly bikable City where people feel safe.

Council considered bonds for bike lanes, sidewalks, and intersections. But apparently transpo wasn’t approved because it didn’t make it through to the final slate. Not surprising, because the last bond elections got voted down handily. People are tired of paying extra taxes for things they don’t use, even if it reduces traffic and pollution and increases health.

Although separating bicycles and cars makes sense, people just don’t want to pay more taxes in inflationary war time. What’s 100 or more injured and a few dead cyclists every year? To the police, courts, district attormey, and other bodies of government, cyclists are second- class citizens whose vulnerable bodies are worth very little time or money.

Given the economy and the state’s fiscal noose around Austin’s budgetary neck, and a budget shortfall resulting in cuts to all kinds of services–everything except police fire and EMT of course–we’re going to see a lot more fighting over nickels and dimes.

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Meanwhile, Austin’s status as a so-called bike friendly city is up for a vote again with the League of American Cyclists. We love to boast about how great our bike lanes are, but there is much to be desired. And in the central city, yes, Austin is quite bikeable. If you’re careful and follow the law, it’s actually pretty safe.

But routinely only about 3% of the public or less is known to commute to work. That’s because, again, a lot of people simply do not feel safe. And that is tied to the lack of protected bike lanes. It’s not rocket science. If you look at the Next Door app as I do, there is a ton of bike hate from car drivers who don’t think we have the right to exist. And they often claim they never see anybody in our millions of dollars of publicly financed bike lanes. They don’t care about the investment in the community or the future when gas is $10 a gallon.

To their credit, Transportation and Public Works is installing new upgrades all the time. But they aren’t maintaining the bollards and turtles once knocked down or dislodged. They’re not cleaning out the debris from bike lanes often enough or at all in some places it seems, either. Defeats the purpose of installing bike lanes if they’re not safe and clean.

And they certainly aren’t making most bike lanes protected. Most just remain a thin and fading stripe of white paint that is supposed to magically keep cars from crashing into cyclists. Dream on, Austin. Hope you get your League Platinum rating to brag about. But on the street level, as somebody with many, Many, MANY thousands of miles of biking, without major infrastructure investment, we’re always going to be behind the times.

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Sadly, there is a recent example of failed bike infrastructure that was a likely contributor to the death of a cyclist. Chaw-Long Shih, Ph.D. was a 65-year old retiree well known in his neighborhood for biking to work very early in the morning. He continued riding after his retirement. He was hit around 5:10 am on a Sunday morning in July on West 35th Street by a hit and run driver. Dr. Shih died 3 days later in the hospital and leaves a grieving widow, two daughters, and other family and friends behind.

The murderer has yet to be caught by our very-well compensated, chronically complaining about understaffing, do little, Austin Police Department. Given other similar cases, even with video showing it was a 2008 blue Honda something, our Keystone Cops aka Austin’s finest boys and girls in blue may never find the driver.

The biochemistry doc always wore a helmet, a reflective vest, and used lights. But one block after the bike lane ended, itself just an unprotected white stripe, he was hit by a blue Honda that didn’t even slow down. It’s hard to retrofit a city, but Chow-Long’s family is mourning and grieving and wanting answers that so far are not coming. Tragic.

And it’s unlikely the City will do anything about it, because a narrow four-lane road barely room has room for sidewalks that then soon cross a highway. Then we can’t be blowing drivers down more than we already do. No word from the the City councilmember for that district about the death, either.

Eventually a ghost bike may appear, but will it get taken down by West Austin aesthetics snobs? If it’s allowed to stay up, will anybody even notice? And if they do, will they know what it means, slow down, and share the road? One can only hope.

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I’d like to end this on a high note. Imagine a high C. Laaaaaaaah! Kidding. I suppose if there’s anything to say it’s that this week I have slowly started going to the gym to swim and sit and spin on a stationary bike on alternate days. More about how my comeback progresses in a future post.

Good luck, have fun, and don’t die. (The title of an insightful action comedy film with the excellent Sam Rockwell about AI that you should see, now on Hulu and maybe Disney.)

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